Immediate Family

About Ned Jarrett (race car driver)

Retired race car driver Ned Jarrett is a two-time NASCAR champion. He was best known for his calm demeanor, and he became known as "Gentleman Ned Jarrett." Yet he was an intense competitor when he put his two hands on the steering wheel of a NASCAR Grand National stock car. He is the father of Dale Jarrett.

Jarrett was introduced to cars early in life: his father let him drive the family car to church on Sunday mornings when he was nine years old. Ned started working for his father in the sawmill by the time he was 12, but racing was what he wanted.

Ned drove in his first race in 1952 at Hickory Motor Speedway's (North Carolina) first race. He drove a Sportsman Ford that he co-owned with his brother-in-law, and finished tenth. This did not go over well with his father. His father told him he could work on cars but not drive them. Once, his brother-in-law was sick for a race and asked Ned to fill in for him. Ned used his brother-in-law's name and came in second in that race. That worked out so smoothly that Ned drove in a few more races under an assumed name, but was finally caught by his father after winning a race. His father told him if he was going to drive to at least use his own name.

Jarrett raced in his first national race at the 1953 Southern 500 at Darlington Speedway. He was out after 10 laps after the engine leaked oil.

Jarrett was the 1955 track champion at Hickory Motor Speedway.

Jarrett came in second driving in the Sportsman series (now Nationwide Series) in 1956, and won the 1957 and 1958 championships.

In 1959, he was looking to pursue a career in Grand National (now Sprint Cup) series. He purchased a Junior Johnson Ford for $2,000. He did not have enough money to cover the check, so he waited until the bank closed to write the check, entered two races, and won them both to cover the cost of his car.

In 1960, he won five races and took the championship over Rex White in 1961. He was among the top five drivers in 22 races and missed being among the top ten drivers only 12 times out of 46 races, with one win.

One indicator of the personal character of "Gentleman Ned" Jarrett is demonstrated by the decision to sell his 1961 (raced as #11) Chevrolet to Wendell Scott (the first NASCAR African American driver) who travelled from his Virginia home to Ned's shop on West "A" Street in Newton, NC to take delivery of the '61 Chevy Bel Air (raced the previous season) when Ned changed to Fords in 1962. Wendell hauled the old blue 1961 Chevrolet Bel Air coupe away on the back of an open trailer. Bobby Isaac frequented the shop on West A Street during this period when Bud Alman was the crew chief assisted by mechanic "John Carl" Ervin. Ervin would later become Crew Chief to Ned and the #11 Fords.

Jarrett was once overheard talking with Bud Alman and John Ervin about the need to "run all the races" to win the championship. Races in those days sometimes included more than one race per week. Among the unique tracks of the early era was Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina which was actually the area around the football field inside the Bowman Gray Stadium. The race schedule was difficult. The race teams were smaller, often having only one or two paid members.

In order to meet the race schedule for the Daytona race when the new "Fastbacks" were introduced by Ford, Bud Alman and John Carl Ervin removed (air-chiseled) most of the body from a 1962 Ford "fatback" dirt car. Next, the two air-chiseled the new body from a '63 Fastback and fitted it onto the old body and chassis. This hybrid body went on to become the car Ned drove into the "Fastback Ford" sweep (top five positions) at Daytona that year. The Fastback bodies had arrived from Ford in wooden crates.

In 1964, Jarrett joined team owner Bondy Long and with the support of Ford won 15 times but lost the championship to Richard Petty. Jarrett picked up his first superspeedway win at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

In 1965, Jarrett became a super star when he won 13 races and another Grand National championship. He placed among the top five in 42 of the 54 races that he ran.

The 1965 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway was one of the wildest races in NASCAR history. Rookie driver Buren Skeen died after two cars ran into the side of his car in the early laps. Sam McQuagg was leading the race, when Cale Yarborough tried to muscle past McQuagg for the lead. Yarborough flew over the guardrail, rolled around six times, and ended up at the end of the parking lot by a light post. Yarborough waved to the crowd as he walked back to the pits. A video clip of the wreck was used on ABC's Wide World of Sports for several years. With 44 laps left, Fred Lorenzen and Darel Dieringer were fighting for the lead far ahead of Jarrett. Lorenzen's motor expired, and even before he could get into the pits Dieringer's motor started smoking too. Dieringer continued at a slower pace to finish third. The race was won by Ned Jarrett by 14 laps, which is the farthest margin of victory in NASCAR history (in terms of miles).

In 1966, Jarrett was in the run for another championship when Ford announced that they were withdrawing from NASCAR. With that, Jarrett decided that it was time to retire at the young age of 34. Jarrett is the only driver to retire as the NASCAR champion.

John Carl Ervin would remain as a Crew Chief to the Jarrett family for years. Ervin later would become Crew Chief for Dale Jarrett in the #32 Busch car owned by DAJ racing and driven by Dale Jarrett.

Jarrett left racing and dealt in real estate and other business ventures before coming back to racing as a broadcaster. He also was the track promoter for Hickory Motor Speedway.

In the early 1960s, Ned began a radio program on the local radio station in Newton, NC (WNNC). His taped show was replayed and locally sponsored, in part by the owner of the Station, Earl Holder, who gave Ned both a taping facility and recording studio time for a moderate rate to fill in local programming. It is believed by some that this radio station, WNNC, where Dr. Jerry Punch also began his career on the local high school radio staff in 1965, was probably the beginning of the radio career of Ned Jarrett. Jarrett would sometimes record more than one radio show at a time in order to facilitate the distance required to compete in what was then the "Grand National" circuit of NASCAR.

Later, in 1978, Jarrett became a radio broadcaster on MRN Radio. He interviewed United States President Ronald Reagan live at the 1984 Firecracker 400 at Daytona, the race famous as Richard Petty's 200th win. Ned also hosted a daily radio program about racing on MRN Radio called "Ned Jarrett's World of Racing" until May 15, 2009, when he announced he would retire from the program. Joe Moore became the show's new host the following Monday, May 18.

Jarrett also has been a television broadcaster on The Nashville Network, CBS, ESPN, and Fox Sports Network. He called several of NASCAR's more memorable television moments. Ned called his son Dale's first victory (in his 129th race) in the 1991 Champion 400 at the Michigan International Speedway. Dale banged Davey Allison's fender at the finish line in what was then the closest finish in NASCAR history. Another famous moment was when he called Dale's victory at the 1993 Daytona 500, openly siding with his son on the last lap and coaching him home to victory over Dale Earnhardt. Embarrassed by his loss of objectivity, he tried to apologize to Earnhardt after the race, but Earnhardt merely smiled and said, "I'm a father, too."

AWARDS

As of 2004, Jarrett had been inducted in twelve motor sports and sports Halls of Fame.

On October 13, 2010 Ned Jarrett was selected to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame as one of the five 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees. He will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during the 2011 induction ceremony.